


Last Call

by GlitterCake20



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Flashbacks, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Pain, Regrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 21:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15009812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterCake20/pseuds/GlitterCake20





	Last Call

“Fuck… fuck…” Theo stumbles into a car as he tries to get away from the arrows that fly at him from all angles. It doesn’t help much, his shoulder, his thigh, maybe his back too. He can’t tell because he’s running too fast. Although, his steps don’t feel all the same anymore. Dragging.

 

Another steel tip pierce into him and he tries not to cry out loud but it hurts, it hurts, and it’s so much worse than all the others. Straight through the chest. Pungent yellow wolfsbane bubble out.

 

Theo’s ears ring, he blacks out for a few seconds, falls against a dark blue truck and he takes longer than he should to realize it’s his own.

 

The rain makes it a hundred times harder to see, at least that’s what Theo tells himself when his vision starts clouding in the corners of his eyes, when little specks of white float around in front of him. He reaches for the door handle and pulls himself up, barely hauls himself inside when he hears the hunters pass, “Fucking…” he sputters up blood, “assholes.”

 

He coughs until it doesn’t hurt anymore, until he can only hear his lungs wheeze. When he falls back against the seat, because that’s what his body demands- to rest- the arrows push through and he could pull them out but what’s the point honestly, so he can bleed out a little faster? Rush the inevitable?

 

He doesn’t close his eyes because Theo Raeken is not an idiot. He knows what’s coming. Of all the things he can think of in this moment, all the wrongs he committed and apologized for, of all the faces flashing before him… only one stands out. Only one matters. The only one that ever made a difference in his sorry excuse of a life. Eyes like the sky and smile like the sun. A kind heart and childlike soul. Corny jokes and lame comebacks. Angry, fierce, strong- inside and out. He is the only one who ever looked at Theo like he was more than just the hands who murdered.

 

Liam acknowledged him, saw him try. And now it’s all for nothing. He groans, spitting out excess blood, as he scrambles for his phone, hands shaking as he taps it but it won’t work, there is too much blood on the screen. He curses, cries, “No!! come on not now, just call, just call… please...” He wipes the phone and his hands. Tries again.

 

Finally.

 

He dials “Baby Blues” and snorts (then coughs) because Liam hates it, it doesn’t stop him from blushing every time Theo calls him that though. _So fucking beautiful_. And that’s the moment that Theo regrets everything – the fact that he never told him how his stomach flips when he sees him. How hot his hair looks when he lets it grow out. The unbelievable shade of gold his eyes are when he’s pissed as hell. How he saved him, kept him alive. Except now, not this time.

 

When Liam answers there’s loud music and people yelling and singing. He’s smiling Theo can tell, his voice is light and friendly with laughter, a little high… he sounds tipsy. “Ello??”

 

Theo smiles as warm tears roll down his freezing cheek. So cold now.

 

“Hey baby blues.” He says fighting his voice for control.

 

“Theo! Dude! Where are you?? This place is lit!!”

 

And right there he falls apart. He has to clutch the phone to his chest so Liam doesn’t hear his sobs. He’s always been strong, always survived and carried on but now, he thinks, now he’s allowed to break. He’s dying, and it’s okay to admit that maybe he’s not as strong, and he can let himself be weak for this boy’s voice.  Because, when you stare death in the face you can’t be scared of something like rejection anymore, when the reaper is coming closer and you feel your insides become hollow… none of that shit you hype up matters.

 

He lifts the phone again, “I’m fighting bad guys Li! You know me.” Theo grips his aching heart, be it from the arrow or from Liam’s deep laugh that he heard now for the last time. His jaw quivers at the thought but he wills it to be still.

 

“Yeah, yeah. I know. I miss you though. Not the same without my grumpy chimera sidekick.”

 

How many times did they hang out? There were so many times that Theo could have told Liam how he feels, that he likes him as more than just a crime fighting buddy. And he knows Liam would have felt the same. He’s misread many things in his life but not _this_ , not the way Liam’s face lights up when he sees him and not the way his heart can’t settle when they are together. Liam had grown addicted as much as Theo had, craving the presence and contact and company of someone just as broken as themselves.

 

_Sitting on rooftops late at night arguing about shooting stars. Laying spanned out on the Nemeton, tempting their fate. Staring contests at the kitchen counter early on a Saturday._

 

Theo will take all of that with him, he hopes that if he goes to this heaven everyone talks about, that _this_ is what his eternity looks like. Full of blue eyes and sunshine smiles.

 

“Theo…” Liam says after the chimera sidekick has been quiet for too long, “Theo, in the morning, when I’m sober, I’m coming over. I need to talk to you about something.”

 

“Talk to me _now_.” His heart pulses in such an off way, he’s nauseous, trembling on the inside and the seats are drenched in much more than just rain water now. Crimson stains seeping through his light blue jeans make him laugh because the last time his jeans were bloody he killed someone… and now…well now life’s a bitch.

 

“Nah, you won’t believe me, I’m a little drunk. And besides, I wanna be totally sober when I say it.”

 

He doesn’t have the energy to argue with Liam to say it right now. He can’t. His body’s shutting down, his hand is clenched around this phone and it’s not because he wants it to be but his muscles are fighting his brain, a war of holding on and giving in.

 

_Clumsy lacrosse lessons, courtesy of Coach Dunbar. Buzzfeed Unsolved when they should be studying. ‘When we graduate’ conversations. College applications, driving lessons, burnt toast, shared blankets, rude sticky notes._

 

Theo swallows back the blood building in his throat, and even that is getting harder to do by the second. What he says next needs to be clear, no room for mistakes, Liam needs to know. He fixes his voice, makes it as strong as he can and his hand grips into the seat with the effort to keep it like that.

 

“Li… Listen. You are _so_ great…. And I hope you live your life to the fullest, and I hope you always find a reason to smile. Baby blues. _My_ baby blue eyes...” _It’s happening, he’s going_ … “I… love y-you.”

 

“What? Theo?? Say that again. Theo?? Hello? I didn’t catch that… Theo?”

 

The phone finally slips from his hand, clatters down between the seats, Liam is still on the line, voice mangled with the sounds of the party, he keeps calling Theo’s name until he eventually hangs up.

 

The chimera follows the raindrops that trickle down the windshield, stream by stream easing out onto the hood, the same way his muscles relax, finally. His eyes are heavy, trying to close and his breathing slows, soft low gurgles spill. It doesn’t hurt like before. He’s just… falling asleep.

 

_4 a.m Call of Duty marathons, sitting on the bedroom floor wearing army helmets. Secret tissue stash in the corners of the couch for Sunday’s chick flicks because Jenna knows they’re softies. Backyard barbeques at the Geyer’s and the distinct smell of family._

Glowing yellow eyes reflect back at him and he smiles, a half-hearted tug of his lips, as he watches the warm glow of his wolf fade to nothing.

 

_Smiles, laughs, eye contact, soft hands on warm skin, winks and smirks…_

Everything is quiet now, all he can hear is the rain. He blinks once, twice, tears rolling down like the raindrops, and his eyelids fall shut… and they stay that way.


End file.
